Danaher Corporation is an American global conglomerate founded in 1984 by brothers

Steven Stephen or Steven is an English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; he is widely regarded as the firs ...

and

Mitchell Rales Mitchell P. Rales (born August 1956) is an American businessman and art curator. He co-founded Danaher Corporation with his brother Steven Rales in 1984 and the art museum Glenstone with his wife Emily Wei in 2006. Rales is also the chairman of ...

. Headquartered in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, the company designs, manufactures, and markets medical, industrial, and commercial products and services.Drummond, Bob (2 April 2004)
Takeover Wizards
''New Zealand Herald''Valdez, Angela (6 June 2008)
A Very Private Collection
''

Washington City Paper The ''Washington City Paper'' is a U.S. alternative weekly newspaper serving the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area since 1981. The ''City Paper'' is distributed on Thursdays; its average circulation in 2006 was 85,588. The paper's editorial ...

'' Danaher was among the first companies in North America to adopt

Kaizen is a Japanese concept in business studies which asserts that significant positive results may be achieved due the cumulative effect of many, often small (and even trivial), improvements to all aspects of a company's operations. Kaizen is put ...

principles, a Japanese

lean manufacturing Lean manufacturing is a methods of production, method of manufacturing goods aimed primarily at reducing times within the Operations management#Production systems, production system as well as response times from suppliers and customers. It is ...

philosophy of continuous improvement and efficiency.Fox, Justin (19 May 2015)
What Makes Danaher Corp. Such a Star?
''Bloomberg'' (discussing kaizen and privacy of company) The company held $78.5 billion in assets .

History

Early years

The company's origins go back to a

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

real estate investment trust A real estate investment trust (REIT, pronounced "reet") is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of real estate, including office and apartment buildings, studios, warehouses, hos ...

organized in 1969 as DMG, Inc. In 1978, DMG, Inc. was reorganized as a Florida corporation and changed its name to Diversified Mortgage Investors, Inc. DMG had been invested in retirement home developments when it was taken over by the Rales brothers, and in 1984, the company adopted the name Danaher and reincorporated under the

Delaware General Corporation Law The Delaware General Corporation Law (sometimes abbreviated DGCL), officially the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (Title 8, Chapter 1 of the Delaware Code), is the statute of the Delaware Code that governs corporate law in the U ...

. It was named after Danaher Creek in

Western Montana Western Montana is the western region of the U.S. state of Montana. The most restrictive definition limits western Montana only to the parts of the state west of the Continental Divide. Other common definitions add in the mountainous areas east o ...

, where the brothers conceptualized it while fishing.Heath, Thomas (7 July 2008)
The Quiet Dynamism of the Brothers Rales
''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' In June 1986, Danaher purchased

Chicago Pneumatic Chicago Pneumatic, also known as "CP", is an industrial manufacturer providing power tools, air compressors, generators, light towers and hydraulic equipment. Products are sold in more than 150 countries through a worldwide distribution network. C ...

(CP), which had merged in July 1984 with a sister company, the Jacobs Manufacturing Co. (Jacobs), and which had purchased Matco Tools Corp. (MTC) in April 1981. In June 1987, Danaher sold CP while retaining Jacobs, including its Matco Tools Division. Jacobs' name was changed to Matco Tools Corp. In November 1991, the other divisions within Jacobs were established as separate operating companies. In January 1993, Danaher formed NMTC, Inc., which acquired a substantial portion of the assets of MTC, including the existing distributorship agreements of MTC. Within two years of Danaher's founding in 1984, Danaher acquired 12 companies as part of a strategy to enter the

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...

business. Therefore, in 1986, Danaher added

Qualitrol Qualitrol is a condition monitoring technology company headquartered in Fairport, New York. Qualitrol manufacturers and distributes partial discharge monitoring, asset protection equipment and information products for the electrical generation ...

to its

instrumentation Instrumentation is a collective term for measuring instruments, used for indicating, measuring, and recording physical quantities. It is also a field of study about the art and science about making measurement instruments, involving the related ...

unit. The unit also included

Gilbarco Veeder-Root Gilbarco Inc., doing business as Gilbarco Veeder-Root, is a supplier of fuel dispensers, point of sales systems, payment systems, forecourt merchandising and support services. The company operates as a subsidiary of Vontier and its headquarters ...

's underground fuel storage sensors, Dynapar's motion sensors and Qualitrol's

pressure Pressure (symbol: ''p'' or ''P'') is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure (also spelled ''gage'' pressure)The preferred spelling varies by country and eve ...

and

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that quantitatively expresses the attribute of hotness or coldness. Temperature is measurement, measured with a thermometer. It reflects the average kinetic energy of the vibrating and colliding atoms making ...

measurement instruments, used on the electrical transformer industry.

1990–2000

In 1990, Danaher acquired Easco Hand Tools Inc. Danaher was selected as exclusive supplier of handtools for Sears. In 1994, Danaher acquired the tool company

Armstrong Tools Armstrong Tools was an American industrial hand tool manufacturer. In its final years, it existed as a brand of Apex Tool Group, LLC and manufactured the majority of its tools in the United States, focusing mostly on aerospace, government, and mil ...

, the makers of tool brands Armstrong, Allen, and others. In 1995 Danaher acquired German components manufacturer Hengstler, a leading manufacturer of counters, printers, relays, and high-precision rotational sensors. Hengstler was Danaher's first acquisition on the European mainland, and the first operating company headquartered outside the United States. Since 1999, Danaher has owned 100% of Hach, broadening the portfolio of chemical, mainly water and wastewater, analytics also with the German company Lange.

2001–2010

Danaher acquired Trojan Technologies, an

environmental engineering Environmental engineering is a professional engineering Academic discipline, discipline related to environmental science. It encompasses broad Science, scientific topics like chemistry, biology, ecology, geology, hydraulics, hydrology, microbiolo ...

firm, in 2004. UK-based West Instruments provides control and measurement instrumentation and services for the global industrial and process markets. German instrumentation manufacturer PMA was added to the Industrial Controls Group in 2005 and enhances the range of control and measurement instrumentation. In July 2005, Danaher announced a definitive agreement to acquire

Leica Microsystems Leica Microsystems GmbH is a German microscope manufacturing company. It is a manufacturer of optical microscopes, equipment for the preparation of microscopic specimens and related products. There are ten plants in eight countries with distri ...

. Leica manufactures a broad range of products for numerous applications requiring microscopic imaging, measurement and analysis. It also offers management systems in the areas of Life Science including biotechnology and medicine, as well as the science of raw materials and industrial quality assurance. In early 2007 Danaher acquired Australian Pathology Instrument and Engineering company Vision Systems Limited. Also in 2007, Danaher made its largest acquisition to date, the purchase of Tektronix, Inc. for US$2.85 billion.
ChemTreat
was acquired by Danaher in 2007 as well. In 2009 Danaher purchased the Analytical Technologies business unit of Canadian Life Sciences company MDS, Inc. for US$650 million. In a separate, but related transaction, Danaher agreed with Life Technologies Corporation (Nasdaq: LIFE) to acquire the remaining 50% ownership position in AB SCIEX for US$450 million, leaving Danaher as outright owner of AB SCIEX and Molecular Devices. The aggregate purchase price for the combined transactions is $1.1 billion.

2011–2020

In 2011, Danaher acquired

Beckman Coulter Beckman Coulter, Inc. is a Danaher Corporation company that develops, manufactures, and markets products relevant to biomedical testing. It operates in the industries of diagnostics under the brand name Beckman Coulter and life sciences under the ...

and subsequently divided the business into two independent operating companies, Beckman Coulter an
Beckman Coulter Life Sciences
Later Danaher sold Accu-sort to Datalogic. In October 2012, Danaher and

Cooper Industries Cooper Industries was an American worldwide electrical products manufacturer headquartered in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1833, the company had seven operating divisions including Bussmann electrical and electronic fuses; Crouse-Hinds Company, Cro ...

agreed to sell their joint venture,

Apex Tool Group Apex Tool Group is an American supplier of hand tools and power tools. It was formed as a joint venture of Cooper Industries and Danaher Corporation, Danaher by the merger of Cooper Tools and Danaher's Tools and Components segment. In October 2 ...

, to

Bain Capital Bain Capital, LP is an American Investment company, private investment firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, with around $185 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, p ...

for a fee of around $1.6 billion. In December 2012 Danaher Corporation acquired Navman Wireless, a provider of on-demand fleet and asset management technology. In September 2014, Danaher announced its intention to buy

Nobel Biocare Nobel Biocare is a Swiss company originally founded in Sweden for manufacturing dental implants. It is now headquartered in Kloten, Switzerland near the Zürich Airport. Nobel Biocare in its current form was founded in 2002. It originates from a ...

for $2.2 billion. In October 2014, Danaher Corp announced it would be combining its communications unit with NetScout Systems. The action was completed in July 2015 In May 2015, Danaher announced the acquisition of

Pall Corporation Pall Corporation, headquartered in Port Washington, New York and a wholly owned subsidiary of Danaher Corporation since 2015, is a global supplier of filtration, separations and purification products. Total revenues for fiscal year 2014 were $2.8 ...

for $13.8 billion, which was completed in August 2015. In June 2016, Danaher spun off several subsidiaries, including Matco and AMMCO-COATS, to create

Fortive Fortive Corporation is an American industrial technology conglomerate company headquartered in Everett, Washington. The company specializes in providing essential technologies for connected workflow solutions; designing, developing, manufactur ...

. In September of the same year, the company announced it would acquire

Cepheid A Cepheid variable () is a type of variable star that pulsates radially, varying in both diameter and temperature. It changes in brightness, with a well-defined stable period (typically 1–100 days) and amplitude. Cepheids are important cosmi ...

for $4 billion (including debt). In October 2016, Danaher Corporation acquired Phenomenex for $700 million to expand its life sciences space. In October 2017, Danaher announced the acquisition of scientific informatics company ID Business Solutions Ltd.
IDBS
. It was announced that IDBS would become part of Danaher's Life Sciences platform. In 2017, Danaher recorded $18.3 billion in revenue. In March 2018, the business announced it would acquire

Integrated DNA Technologies Integrated DNA Technologies, Inc. (IDT), headquartered in Coralville, Iowa, is a supplier of custom nucleic acids, serving the areas of academic research, biotechnology, clinical diagnostics, and pharmaceutical development. IDT's primary busines ...

for an undisclosed price. In July 2018, Danaher announced its intention to spin off its $2.8 billion Dental segment into an independent publicly traded company. They named Amir Aghdaei, who at the time was President of Danaher's Dental Platform, to be President and CEO of the new company upon completion of the transaction. The

corporate spin-off A corporate spin-off, also known as a spin-out, starburst or hive-off, is a type of corporate action where a company "splits off" a section as a separate business or creates a second incarnation, even if the first is still active. It is distinct ...

was completed in December 2019, with the new company called Envista Holdings Corporation. In October 2019, Danaher announced it has signed an agreement to sell its biomolecular characterization, chromatography hardware and resins, microcarriers and particle validation standards businesses to Sartorius AG for approximately $750 million. The combined revenue of the businesses was approximately $140 million in 2018. In 2019, Danaher was ranked by

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

as one of the best employers for diversity. On Monday, March 2, 2020, Dr. Stephen Hahn, the FDA's commissioner, said that the agency had taken actions to allow private labs and companies to begin making their own coronavirus tests in order to greatly expand the U.S. capacity to test for the virus. Hahn went on to note, "There will be—the estimates we're getting from industry right now, by the end of this week, close to a million tests will be able to be performed." The following morning, a spokeswoman for the

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the US federal government created to protect the health of the US people and providing essential human services. Its motto is "Im ...

noted that Dr. Hahn was referring to tests being produced by an outside manufacturer,

. IDT is a division of Danaher which was acquired in early 2019. In March 2020, Danaher acquired the biopharma business of the

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

Life Sciences division for $21.4 billion and was named Cytiva. Danaher had to sell off part of its life sciences businesses to Sartorius to satisfy the

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) United States antitrust law, antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. It ...

regulatory requirement for the acquisition. Cytiva is a global provider of technologies and services related to the development, manufacture, and delivery of vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics to customers in organizations including academia, biotechnology, and drug manufacturing. The Cytiva name stems from 'cyto' meaning 'cell' in Greek, and 'iva' a Latin suffix meaning 'doing' and 'capable of'. In May 2020, it was announced that Tom Joyce would retire as CEO of the company. He was replaced by Executive Vice President Rainer Blair on September 1, 2020.

2021–present

In September 2022, it was announced that Pall Life Sciences will be merging with Cytiva to create a new Biotechnology Group within Danaher. The merger was completed in May 2023. As of May 2023, Cytiva employed more than 16,000 associates in over 40 countries. Also in September 2022, Danaher announced its intention to spin off its Environmental & Applied Solutions segment in Q4 2023. On February 8, 2023, Danaher announced that the new company is named

Veralto Corporation Danaher Corporation is an American global conglomerate founded in 1984 by brothers Steven and Mitchell Rales. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the company designs, manufactures, and markets medical, industrial, and commercial products and ...

and will be headed by Danaher Executive Vice President Jennifer Honeycutt as Veralto's President and CEO. On September 30, Danaher announced the separation completion of Veralto and that Veralto will begin trading on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

on October 2 under the symbol "VLTO." On 28 August 2023, Danaher announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire

Abcam Abcam Limited is a producer, distributor and seller of protein research tools operating worldwide from 13 locations with 1,800 employees of which 400 work in Research and Development (R&D). Abcam was listed on the Nasdaq and the London Stock Exc ...

for approximately $5.7 billion at $24 per share in cash. In April 2024, Precision Nanosystems was merged into Cytiva. In June, The US

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...

(FDA) granted marketing approval to Danaher's Cepheid unit for a rapid test for

hepatitis C Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) that primarily affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. During the initial infection period, people often have mild or no symptoms. Early symptoms can include ...

. Using a

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood is com ...

sample from a fingertip, the rapid test detects the virus's

RNA Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule that is essential for most biological functions, either by performing the function itself (non-coding RNA) or by forming a template for the production of proteins (messenger RNA). RNA and deoxyrib ...

and delivers results in less than roughly an hour, as opposed to requiring a sample to be sent to a lab.

Controversies

Controversy has arisen regarding the pricing of test cartridges manufactured by Danaher's subsidiary,

. These cartridges are essential for detecting diseases such as COVID-19, HIV, and tuberculosis. Organizations such as

Treatment Action Group Treatment Action Group (TAG) is a U.S.-based organization that has been prominent within the movement of HIV/AIDS activism. Being formed in 1991, it has possessed the goals of working with worldwide efforts to increase research on treatments for HI ...

and

Doctors Without Borders Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded ...

have been asking Cepheid to lower the price of these tests since 2019. On September 12, 2023, author and vlogger

John Green John Michael Green (born August 24, 1977) is an American author and YouTuber. His books have more than 50 million copies in print worldwide, including ''The Fault in Our Stars'' (2012), which is one of the List of best-selling books#Bet ...

released a video highlighting these ethical concerns and calling on his community to reach out to Danaher. One week later, Cepheid and Danaher announced a 20% price reduction for their Xpert MTB/RIF TB test cartridge, from $9.98 to $7.97 in high TB-burden countries. However, their Xpert MTB/XDR test used to diagnose for drug-resistant TB, which is the deadliest form, remained unchanged at $14.90.(19 September 2023)
MSF: TB test price reduction by Cepheid and Danaher is a step in the right direction
Doctors Without Borders

Divisions

Life sciences

* Beckman Coulter Life Sciences *

* Molecular Devices *

* SCIEX *Cytiva

Diagnostics

* Beckman Coulter Diagnostics *

Leica Biosystems Leica Biosystems, founded 1872 as Precision Engineering, is a medical devices company that develops and supplies clinical diagnostics to the pathology market. It is also a research, instrument, and medical device company as well as a division of ...

Radiometer A radiometer or roentgenometer is a device for measuring the radiant flux (power) of electromagnetic radiation. Generally, a radiometer is an infrared radiation detector or an ultraviolet detector. Microwave radiometers operate in the micro ...

Spinoff companies

Envista Holdings Corporation The Buick Envista is a compact crossover SUV manufactured by General Motors and marketed under the Buick brand since 2022. It shares the GM VSS-F platform with the Chevrolet Trax (marketed as the Seeker in China). Presented for the Chinese mar ...

* Ormco *

Kavo Kerr KaVo Kerr was a dental equipment manufacturer group that was sold formerly to Envista. The group stemmed from a joint venture set up in 2016 between KaVo (KaVo Dental GmbH), which was established in 1909 in Berlin, Germany, and Kerr Corporation, w ...

* Dexis *

Alpha Bio Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter ''aleph'' , whose name comes from the West Semitic word for ' ox' ...

Implant Direct Implant can refer to: Medicine *Implant (medicine), or specifically: **Brain implant **Breast implant **Buttock implant **Cochlear implant **Contraceptive implant **Dental implant **Fetal tissue implant **Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator ** ...

* Metrex * Orascoptic

Fortive Fortive Corporation is an American industrial technology conglomerate company headquartered in Everett, Washington. The company specializes in providing essential technologies for connected workflow solutions; designing, developing, manufactur ...

Gems Sensors & Controls Gems Sensors and Controls is an American manufacturer of application engineered sensors. Founded in 1955, it makes level, pressure and flow sensors for use in a wide range of fluids across industry. Gems Sensors is a division of Fortive Corpora ...

* Hengstler *

Fluke Corporation Fluke Corporation is an American manufacturer of industrial test, measurement, and diagnostic equipment, including electronic test equipment. It was started in 1948 by John Fluke while he was employed at General Electric. History John Fluk ...

Tektronix Tektronix, Inc., historically widely known as Tek, is an American company best known for manufacturing test and measurement devices such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and video and mobile test protocol equipment. Originally an independent c ...

Veralto

* Videojet *

Esko Esko is a Finnish masculine given name and surname. Given name People with the given name include: * Esko Aho (born 1954), former Prime Minister of Finland * Esko Ahonen (1955–2025), Finnish politician * Esko Almgren (born 1932), Finnish poli ...

X-Rite X-Rite, Inc. is an American manufacturer of color measurement and management products, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. The company also creates products that regulate quality in the processing of film and x-rays. History T ...

Pantone Pantone LLC (stylized as PANTONE) is an American limited liability company headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey, and best known for its Pantone Matching System (PMS), a proprietary color order system used in a variety of industries, notably gr ...

Linx Linx or LINX may refer to: * Linx Cargo Care Group, Australian logistics company * Linx (railway company), a now defunct Norwegian-Swedish railway company * Linx (software house), a Brazilian business management software company * LINX (IPC), ...

* Hach * ChemTreat *

Trojan Technologies Danaher Corporation is an American global conglomerate founded in 1984 by brothers Steven and Mitchell Rales. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the company designs, manufactures, and markets medical, industrial, and commercial products and s ...

* McCrometer *

Sea-Bird Scientific Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same envir ...

Aquatic Informatics Aquatic means relating to water; living in or near water or taking place in water; does not include groundwater, as "aquatic" implies an environment where plants and animals live. Aquatic(s) may also refer to: * Aquatic animal, either vertebrate ...

XOS XOS or Xos may refer to: * XOS (operating system), an Android-based operating system * XOS 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0, Red Hat Enterprise Linux derivatives * XOS valuation, a kind of utility function used mainly in mechanism design * Xbox One S, a video gam ...

* OTT HydroMet

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1969 establishments in Washington, D.C. American companies established in 1969 Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Conglomerate companies established in 1969 Conglomerate companies of the United States Electronics companies established in 1969 Hand tools Manufacturing companies based in Washington, D.C. Multinational companies headquartered in the United States Tool manufacturing companies of the United States Electric motor manufacturers Electronics companies of the United States

History

Early years

1990–2000

2001–2010

2011–2020

2021–present

Controversies

Divisions

Life sciences

Diagnostics

Spinoff companies

Envista Holdings Corporation The Buick Envista is a compact crossover SUV manufactured by General Motors and marketed under the Buick brand since 2022. It shares the GM VSS-F platform with the Chevrolet Trax (marketed as the Seeker in China). Presented for the Chinese mar ...

Fortive Fortive Corporation is an American industrial technology conglomerate company headquartered in Everett, Washington. The company specializes in providing essential technologies for connected workflow solutions; designing, developing, manufactur ...

Veralto

See also

References

External links